Sermon on Freedom

This will be my next to last sermon probably.
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What does it mean to be free? Most modern wars are fought in the name of freedom. One ethnic group fights another so that it can maintain its identity and have “freedom”. My country has fought several wars, supposedly so that other people could have freedom. Those people haven’t always appreciated our efforts.

Freedom is the most modern of values. Over the past few centuries the entire world has been demanding “freedom”. We want freedom to do what we want to do, freedom to say what want to say, freedom to go where we want to go. People talk about freedom so much that they sometimes don’t think about what they are saying. This is why I was struck by a verse I read recently:

Ephesians 3:1

“ For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles”

That doesn’t make any sense! I am a modern person with modern values. Prisoners have no freedom, so I think that being a prisoner is a terrible thing. Why would Paul say he was a prisoner of Christ, the source of all good?

I thought that perhaps Paul was simply talking about his current situation. He spent a good deal of time in prison because of his witnessing. In a few places he calls himself a prisoner “for Christ”. There’s a big difference between being a prisoner “of Christ” and a prisoner “for Christ”.

Fortunately Paul has a habit of repeating everything he says in slightly different words. This way, if we don’t understand the first time, we can read a little further and he’ll clarify.

In Ephesians 3:7-9 he says:

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

Being a servant is a little better than being a prisoner, but not much. A servant still has very little freedom. A servant does exactly what their master tells them to do. Interestingly, Paul says that he became a servant “through the gift of God’s grace”.

“I don’t need grace to become a servant!” says my modern mind. “I might need grace to get some kind of reward, but grace to be a servant? I need strength to defend my freedom, not grace to give it up. In fact, why would God even ask me to be a servant? I thought God wanted me to be free!”

Once my faith weakened. We all have highs and lows, and this particular time was a low. I wasn’t sure that God cared for me, or that he was even there. It seemed my prayers were empty and didn’t go anywhere. I decided that I needed some kind of test. For a month I would pray to God every day, asking him to use me. If there was no difference at the end of the month I would re-evaluate my beliefs. It was a stupid plan, but I wasn’t in a very good frame of mind.

So I decided I would pray this prayer:
Dear Father in heaven, I am your servant, and you are my master. Please use me for whatever you need. Show me how to do your work, and help me to be more like you.

The first time I said this prayer it was hard, which surprised me. It was very hard to say “you are my master”. We hear the word “servant” so much that it looses meaning. We often say “make me a servant” and forget that by saying this we are also saying “please be my master”.


But this prayer was very effective. It didn’t take a month to lift me out of my doubt and depression. It didn’t take a week. It took one heartfelt prayer. This is because one of the main reasons for doubt and sadness is pride. Once I had given up my pride, and my desire to prove what a great person I was, the doubt melted away.

I believe this is what Jesus had in mind when he said “the truth will set you free”. Sin controls our mind and our actions, and eventually destroys us.

John 8:31-34
“31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33 They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
34 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”

Still, can’t we be even more free? Why do we have to be either a slave to sin or a servant of Christ? Why can’t we do what we ourselves want?

There is a very good reason. We sometimes forget that the earth is a battleground. There are exactly two sides in this war; good and evil. There aren't, say, three sides consisting of good, evil, and me. Good and evil are fighting over every person here. There are no civilians. At any given moment you are serving a master, the only question is which master are you serving?

Which master did you serve this week? Can someone say that they were brought closer to God through your witness? If not, what can you do next week so that someone will be able to say so? It is impossible to passively follow Christ, the only way to follow him is actively. Which master should you choose?

Let’s look at this logically. Let’s chose the master that gives us more freedom. Which master allows more freedom? Why did Paul say that he was allowed to be a servant through “grace”? What’s so good about being a servant of God? I think it is because as a servant of God you have more freedom than you could even if it was possible to not be a servant of anyone.

Once Paul and Silas were preaching in the city of Philippi, and a fortune telling girl who was possessed with a demon started following them around. You’d think that a demon possessed girl would scream and curse, or perhaps throw things, but she didn’t. Instead she just kept shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you how to be saved”.

This was one of the most destructive things the possessed girl could have done. By telling everyone that she approved of Paul and Silas, she was implying they were associated. It’s just as if you were trying to decide whether or not to make an expensive purchase, like a car. As you are inspecting the car a person who you know is a thief comes up and says “You can trust this dealer, he’s an honest man, and the cars he sells are dependable”. If that happened to me I would get out of there as fast as I could.

And Paul knew this. After a few days he got annoyed. He turned around and said "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" and the evil spirit left her.

This girl was a slave. By the power of God Paul freed her from slavery to the demon, but she was still a slave with human owners. When these owners realized that she couldn’t tell fortunes any more they were furious. They went and stirred up a mob. The mob hauled Paul and Silas into court. The judges had them stripped and beaten, then thrown into prison.

Chained in the dark prison, bruised and bleeding, Paul and Silas did what anyone would do. They moaned, groaned, cursed, and tried to sleep on the hard stones.
Did they?

Acts 16:25-30
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

Here we can clearly see the difference between being a servant of Christ and a slave to sin. We may think that people who sin are more free, but in reality sin takes away our freedom. It covers us, destroying our personality and turning us against ourselves and the people we love. Sin ate away at the free will of the slave girl until she was “possessed”, she was completely controlled by a demon. When Paul cast the demon out of her using the power of God, he moved her further away from satan and closer to freedom.

In contrast, being a servant of God frees us, and makes us more like ourselves than we were before. This is possible because we are creatures created by God, so when we go from rebelling against God to serving him we are returning to what we were designed to be; we are returning to our true selves.

Paul and Silas, as servants of God, were able to sing in prison. God then sent an earthquake which opened all the doors and made everyone’s chains fall off. What kind of earthquake makes chains fall off? When the jailer came down and saw that they had stayed willingly (saving the honor and the life of the jailer) he asked them “What must I do to be saved?”. He could see that these men were truly free. They knew their purpose in life, and they knew what they wanted.

Service to God is true freedom; more real than the freedom we always try to get for ourselves, more real than the freedom promised by any government. Jesus says:

Matthew 11: 28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

In this world it is impossible to be your own master. This world is a battleground, and everyone is following a leader. Even by doing nothing you are following a master. What can you do to be free? True freedom is service to Christ, and serving Christ means doing his work. What work can you do for Christ?